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John Hobbs: the Mormon Church and the Book of Mormon by staff
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Joan Leach by staff
Born into a non-LDS (actually anti-LDS) family that didn’t want or love me, by the age of four I felt an emptiness and loneliness that made me long for the heavenly parents who I was sure had loved and valued me. My need and desire resulted in my having many spiritual experiences in which I discovered that Christ not only had a personal church here on earth but that when I grew up, I was to join it.Until I could find this church, I attended my family’s church, though I already knew it wasn’t the special church I had been told about. When I graduated from high school, I attended a nursing school owned by another religion and read everything in their library on their faith that they had. I also observed the students and teachers of that faith and asked them questions. I concluded their church was not the one I was looking for.
What followed was years of attending and investigating as many churches as I could, which introduced me to many strange beliefs. All I could learn about Mormons was what my family told me and from reading about Joseph Smith and Brigham Young–prophets and polygamy. I was impressed with the Mormon Tabernacle Choir, the Osmonds, and the Church’s emphasis on family, but that wasn’t enough to overcome my conviction that the religion was all wrong. When I thought of prophets, I thought of Charles Manson. When I thought of polygamy, I thought that my Heavenly Father wouldn’t denigrate me like that and so it couldn’t possibly be right.
When I was 34, I lived in Florida, had two children, and had just been divorced. I had stopped going to churches several years before and had told God that He’d have to send the church to me because I couldn’t find it. When I saw young men knocking on doors across the street from my house, I thought they were from another church I’d already rejected and told my sons that I wasn’t even going to answer the door when they knocked. Time passed and I’d forgotten about them when I was passing the front door and heard a knock. Suddenly I knew who was kncoking and while I intended not to open the door, I watched my hand reach out–as if it had a mind of its own–and open the door. I remember thinking, ‘What is my hand doing?–I’ll never be able to get rid of these people!’
When I saw the faces of two young men smiling at me, I was surprised: They were glowing! I only half listened while they explained that they were missionaries with the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. I couldn’t remember which church that was. At my puzzled expression, they said, “The Mormons.” I said, “Oh,” and thought ‘prophets and polygamy–oh, well–be polite but get rid of them.’ And I proceeded to try to do just that.
Finally one of the missionaries said something that stopped me completely. He said, “Do you know there’s a prophet alive on the earth today?” A prophet?–one of the very ideas that I thought disqualified the church as being the one I sought. But it was as if a bell rang: I thought, ‘You know, God could do that–He could send a prophet to earth; he’s done it before, so why couldn’t he do it again?’ But I only said to them, “Well, I’m interested in religion, so you can come back, but I’m not going to convert.” Ha!
That was on Sunday evening, and they told me they’d be back at 2:00 either Thursday or Friday, depending on whether another appointment they had at 2:00 on Thursday was kept. I agreed and closed the door.
And Lucifer stepped in. That may seem a strange thing to say, but what happened was that I spent several days of torment, doubt, anguish. I had trouble eating or sleeping. I didn’t know what was wrong with me, but when 2:00 Thursday arrived, I was all churned up and waited for the missionaries at the door to tell them I’d decided not to talk with them. But they didn’t arrive.
That’s when a complete flip flop occurred. Suddenly I felt hysterical and began to sob. I cried, “I don’t how to get hold of them! I don’t know how to find them! I’ll never see them again!” I was inconsolable and didn’t understand why. Suddenly a thought came to me: ‘Didn’t they say they might not be able to come today, and if they couldn’t, that they’d come tomorrow?’ I immediately calmed down, and said, “Oh, yeah–they did.”
The next day–Friday–an entirely different person met them at the door than the one who would have met them the day before. I was calm and open to what they had to say.
Nevertheless, I intended to question them, to find out if what they claimed–that their church was Christ’s–his special, personal church–was true. We went through several “discussions” that night, and they gave me a Book of Mormon to read. I read for hours and prayed about it as they suggested, with no answer. I wrote down questions I had about what I’d read–115 of them– before I finally went to sleep.
Saturday morning the missionaries returned and I presented them with the list of questions. I thought they’d be upset, but I didn’t care. (They weren’t.) I was determined that if what they claimed was true, I’d find out. We spent several more hours in discussions and most of my questions they answered satisfactorily. Some they were to get back to me on, and some I thought they were wrong about so I made notes on those. Nevertheless when they asked me to attend church the next day, I overcame my entrenched reluctance to go (it had been years since I’d gone to church) and decided that if the church were true, when I set foot in their chapel and saw the people there, I’d know.
When I arrived at the church, it was nice, though plain. The people impressed me, but I thought, ‘They’re just very nice people. That’s all.’ I was particularly impressed with the fathers there. They acted like mothers, holding their babies, caring fror them, kissing and hugging them. ‘Nice,’ I thought. But that wasn’t enough to convince me.
Then the first hymn sounded on the organ: “Onward Christian Soldiers,” a song I’d heard in my family’s church and a dozen other churches, too. Only this time it was different. A spirit entered my heart so strong that I could hardly breathe, and that’s when it happened. I received the answer to my prayer. I had a special experience during that song that showed me for sure–nothing doubting–that I had found what I’d been told to seek.
I can tesitfy to you that I know many things now, after being in the Church for many years, but the most important thing that I can tell you is this: Christ lives and The Church of Jesus Christ is really–honestly and truly–His church. Listen to the testimonies of the missionaries and members. We come from all over the world. We come from all religions. Some of us had no religion and didn’t believe God existed. But we all come to the same truth and the same gospel.
My problem over polygamy? I received the answer to that three months after I was baptized. You see, God talks to us, especially if we talk to him. He’s concerned about the things that concern us. He wants us to be happy. I tremble when I think about the possibility that the missionaries might not have returned. I can’t bear to think about it. But that would never have happened, of course, because, as I said, my Father in Heaven wants ME to be happy and the Church shows me how to do that. And I am.
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Jamison Davis by staff
The Foundation of My Testimony by Jamison R. Davis
I was born to “goodly” Jewish parents in 1960. The US was still in a period of post-war boom and young families were leaving the crowded conditions of New York City and its five boroughs for the suburbs. I spent the first 5 years of my life in the little Jewish enclave of Manhattan Beach on Brooklyn’s Sheepshead Bay and then in 1965 we moved to Westport Connecticut, a lovely artists colony. And home to a growing Jewish population.Like other Jewish boys of the Reformed branch of Judaism I went to synagogue during the high holidays and prepared for my Bar Mitzvah at age 13, the Jewish coming of age. I went to Hebrew school after regular school hours and enjoyed my studies. Early in my life I began to have a curiosity about the Dead Sea Scrolls and the people that wrote them. I began to wonder about the Messiah and why no one ever talked about Him.
From my earliest recollection I can recall believing in God, knowing that He loved me, that He answered the prayers of our family and that we should love and serve Him.
And from a very early age I began to be tutored by Him by many experiences and struggles in what I should make of my life.When I was a boy, sometime between ages 11-14, I remember being home sick one Saturday afternoon and looking for something to watch on TV. I came upon a scene that was electrifying. An elderly man with a small microphone attached to his eyeglasses was speaking in gravelly voice from a great podium in a large assembly. As he began to speak I began to feel a very strange feeling inside me. I changed the channel but never forgot that first exposure to the Lord’s prophets and the spirit of conference.
When I was 13 I also began middle school. The first middle I school I attended had some boys that used to bully me and so it was decided that I would attend another middle school across town and that was by the Lord’s design. It was there that I met the young man who would introduce me to the gospel. I rode the bus across town with other kids who for one reason or another needed to attend that school because it had ramps as well as stairs. One such boy was Kent Hickenlooper. Kent was born with Hemophilia and sometimes needed to be in a wheelchair when his joints were inflamed. Kent’s family moved from Utah and their roots go back to pioneer stock. One day Kent and I had a discussion about God. I don’t exactly recall why but I remember his answers were articulate and made me curious about his Mormon beliefs. I went home and looked up the Mormon Church in the Encyclopedia, which had a lengthy section on LDS beliefs. I asked him if there was a copy of the translation of the gold plates available (thinking it was like the Dead Sea scrolls – only available in libraries and such. He played along and said “oh they are very hard to come by but I think my father can get you one if you will take the time to read it.” And I looked forward to it and read it as soon as it arrived in my possession. As I did so many questions began to form in my mind.
I asked Kent some of these questions and he suggested I meet with two of his “friends” who do nothing for two years but answer people’s questions about the church. This began my discussions with the missionaries. As I continued to read I began to have my doubts about the truth of the Book of Mormon but another LDS boy in our school was very patient and kind and took the time to read with me over the phone Alma 32 and invited me to put that seed-planting challenge to a test. How grateful I am for that life-changing conversation. As I continued to study I began to feel a great love and hunger for the doctrines of the gospel but I was left with a monumental question as to the divinity of Jesus Christ. To further complicate matters, my investigation of the church was a source of great concern to my family. As I continued to study, to ponder, to feel the warmth and power of the doctrine and the love of my newfound LDS friends, I began to wonder more how could this not be true versus the other way around and yet the Savior and His divinity were a great stumbling block to me.
One night, during the discussion that used to be called “Our relationship to Christ” the Elders invited me to pray about the Savior and promised me if I did, If I was unafraid of the consequence of knowing that Jesus was the Christ, that if I asked as Moroni instructed, that the answer would come. I decided to put that to the test.
I retuned to my home and in the quiet and privacy of my room late one evening I knelt and began to vocalize my desires to God, first to thank him for the blessings I had received, for the new friends who loved me, for the missionaries who taught me such wonderful things then humbly I asked for a witness that Jesus was indeed the savior of the world, the awaited Messiah. As I began to pray my Star of David pendant given to me by my beloved Grandmother began to dangle in front of me causing me to reflect on my great heritage and what I was potentially asking which in my mind at the time refuted all I had grown up believing. Feeling the star was a distraction from my fervent prayer I closed my eyes and prayed ever more earnestly. Then summoning all the faith I could muster at that young age, I closed my prayer, mostly in a spirit of hope, in the name of Jesus Christ. Upon arising from my knees the spirit whispered to me with power and certainty that Jesus was the Christ, That God had heard and answered my prayer, That Joseph Smith was indeed a prophet and brought forth the restoration. That the Book of Mormon was absolutely true and that Spencer W. Kimball was God’s prophet. I was elated and I was terrified at the implication of what had taken place. I knew God in all His majesty had reached down from His Heaven and, like the brother of Jared, had touched me. And thus began my education of the things of the spirit.
This prayer began my hunger for reading everything I could about the restoration and the Savior and His church. My family allowed me to attend church but not seminary. I could attend Stake dances and MIA but I was not allowed to be baptized. For two years I attended my meetings, held callings, wrote music for youth conferences and road shows but was denied the blessings of baptism. I prayed and fasted and pleaded the Lord to soften the hearts of my parents to allow me to be baptized. My friends advanced from deacon to teacher to priest and I felt so very left behind.
Finally in 1977, at the age of 17, I could wait no longer. The denial of the blessings of baptism also meant I could not attend the magnificent newly built Washington Temple.
I pled with the Lord in a long tear-filled prayer under a mighty fir tree on the edge of our property. And then I waited in faith for a miracle.The miracle came on Memorial Day morning and while I cannot share the details of the experience, I will share the result, against all odds, two weeks later I was baptized and soon thereafter I attended with the other youth the beautiful Washington DC Temple. I felt I had finally come home.
It is my prayer that this story might attest that the God of Israel knows His children, He delights to hear and answer our prayers. He looks beyond our weakness and frailty and He knows the longings of our hearts.
God our Eternal Father loves His children, he hears and answers our prayers. He knows us individually and is involved in our daily iives in a myriad of ways. I testify that God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son Jesus Christ as a Savior and redeemer for all mankind and through the atonement of Christ, we are made eligible to live with our families and loved ones in Eternity thorugh our faith and obedience to gospel laws and commandments.
I testfy that Our Heavenly Father in company with His beloved son appeared to the prophet Joseph and there in a lovely woodland setting in upstate New York ushered in this last dispensation when young men dream dreams and Elijah would return to turn our hearts to our fathers.
I testify that the Book of Mormon, Another Testament of Jesus Christ is the word of God, translated by divine means and brought forth in our day by the prophet Joseph Smith.
I testify that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is the kingdom of God restored to the Earth for a new and final dispensation.
I bear witness that there are living prophets and Apostles and that President Gordon B. Hinckley is the Lord’s prophet today.
And I testify that all who seek a witness of the truth as to things of which I have here testified need only ask sincerely in prayer and our Heavenly Father will answer that prayer through a unique feeling of peace, joy and serenity felt in the heart and mind of any who ask in faith.
I offer this testimony with the hope that it might invite others, and most especially those from the house of Judah, to come unto Christ, the holy one of Israel and to
his restored gospel and do so in the holy name of Jesus Christ, Amen.June 2005
Darien, CTAbout the author
Jim Davis was born in Brooklyn New York and was raised in Connecticut. He was a convert to the Church at age 15 from the Jewish faith.
From an early age Brother Davis developed a love for music and by the time he was 18 had written over a hundred songs and was on his way to a promising career as a song writer and recording artist.
After high school Brother Davis attended Ricks College, now BYU Idaho, and there formed a band called Davis & Holmes in which he began writing and recording LDS popular music. He served a mission in the England Manchester Mission and there wrote and directed the LDS missionary music group “The Ambassadors” which toured, recorded an album and was featured on television and radio. Upon his return from England, Brother Davis was signed to Embryo Records where he recorded two albums of his music in partnership with LDS composer Lex de Azevedo. As partners Brother Davis and Lex De Azevedo also created the first LDS motion picture shown in theaters called A Field So White. After completing
“A Field So White” Brother Davis shifted his musical pursuits to the advertising business writing music for commercials and the popular daytime drama As The World Turns.Brother Davis continued in the advertising business for the next 20 years and was one of the early pioneers of Internet Advertising. He has remained heavily involved in developing new means of leveraging emerging media to foster and maintain relationships between consumers and brands such as The Walt Disney Company, Philips, HP, Pepsi and Unilever.
Brother Davis has served as a gospel doctrine teacher, an institute instructor, bishop’s counselor, ward mission leader, stake mission president’s counselor and as a councilor to three full-time mission presidents. He currently serves as Special Representative for Public Affairs for the Church’s Public Affairs Department and a family history consultant.
He married Christie Kinkead and they are the parents of four children.
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I Testify of Tears and Donuts by staff
Miracles have long been misunderstood to be a parting of seas, or the booming voice of an omniscient deity. The scriptures are a source of many such miracles, but not all miracles are so apparent in the lives of contemporary Latter-day Saints. I testify of the smaller miracles; the workings of our beloved Heavenly Father that prove He is all around us. I testify that the smaller miracles, the personal witnesses that only mean something to us individually are the ones that are most important.As a daughter of an alcoholic and abusive father, I’ve seen my share of horrors in this life. The greatest of all was my loss of my ability to cry. I stopped believing in sensitivity, and being conscious enough of my own feelings to weep. My defense mechanism cost me dearly, and I soon began to be swept away in a life that I could only perceive as a tragedy. I could not feel God’s embrace when I needed it most, and I tried to fill my void in any way I possibly could. It led me down a path of promiscuity and self abuse. I needed a change in my life, but I had no idea where to turn.
I testify of donuts; of Heavenly Father’s ability to know even our basest desires, and to use them to find us. I was invited to come to church with a Baptist friend of mine when I was a freshman in high school. At first I declined, until she countered with the free donuts they always had with their morning services. So began my spiritual quest for peace.
I testify of tears; a gift from our Father in Heaven, they signal to us when He is nearest. As I began to attend the Baptist services, I realized that their services were lacking something I needed. Something I craved. Unfortunately, my search wasn’t over, but I was out of places to go. I had only ever known Protestant and Catholic Christianity. Neither felt complete, and I mourned that realization for many weeks. I willingly shed the first tears I had cried in years, and I knew my God was with me. I knew He would guide me to what I was searching for, which was the first of many miracles I would experience. Hold on, the Spirit pleaded with me, and I went quietly.
I testify that Christ lives, and because he suffered for all of us, we have His Spirit to be with us. His Spirit led me down a path that I never would have found on my own. I met the first LDS members I had ever seen, and they were the most remarkable and peculiar people. They didn’t swear. They didn’t drink caffeine. They were kind, considerate, and generous. Love radiated from their actions and countenances that touched the marrow of my bones, the void in my soul. They had what I needed, whatever it was, and I knew I needed to find out more.
I testify that actions speak louder than words. I was bombarded with words as I attempted to find out more about the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Words from my pastor and Sunday school teacher, words from my Baptist friends, from my LDS friends. Words from all sides made it hard for me to even think. But what spoke louder than everything else was the openness, the kind-hearted spirit that the Saints extended to an outsider like me. I felt accepted I had gotten past a boundary with these people that I hadn’t gotten through with the Baptists in the months I had been with them. I didn’t understand why. I only knew that I was getting a message that I couldn’t accept. Mormonism was growing on me, and if there was anything I had learned, being a Mormon was not an easy thing to be.
I testify that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is the true church of Christ, and that His Spirit presides over their meetings. I attended a Sunday service in an LDS church in March of 2006, and for once I was not a bystander. The Spirit finally touched me! I cried tears of joy that I recognized the second they touched my face. “I’m home! I belong HERE, and I’m never going to leave!” Before I heard talks from any of the speakers, before I learned anything about the Book of Mormon, about LDS doctrine, I knew without a doubt that the church would be my home all the days of my life.
I testify that baptism is a miracle, and that baptism into the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is a covenant for all eternity. I testify that because of my baptism, I was clean for the first time in my life. It has taken me my first year as a faithful member to accept that the scars I accumulated and created before my baptism were truly washed from me. I no longer need to look back and be turned to a pillar of salt. And because of this realization, I do what I can to teach others that they too can be clean.
I testify of the Prophet Joseph Smith, that “we don’t have to meet him to know he’s a prophet.” I have come to know him so completely because of my own trials. The persecution, a feeling that there MUST be something more than what the world has to offer, the added opposition of being a teenager; I have known those struggles. The faith despite terror and sacrifice; I have known it. And because a 14 year old boy said a prayer over a hundred years ago, thousands of people walked across a continent, and my life 3 generations later will never be the same! I love the Prophet Joseph Smith, and I look forward to that day when I might meet him on the other side of that veil.
I testify of the Scriptures, the Bible and The Book of Mormon. I have had my life touched by both. The Bible has demonstrated to me that to write is truly a miracle because of the hope that can last for thousands of years and countless generations. The Book of Mormon has espoused the loving voice of my Heavenly Father ever since I started reading it, and I know that it’s true.
Finally, I testify of prayer. Prayer might just be the biggest miracle of all, the most important miracle that man has ever known. Imagine; an all powerful, all knowing, all seeing deity cares enough about me to listen to me personally. He loves me enough to hear my plea, so that He can bless me with peace. All because he WANTS the chance to love a sinner like me. He’s joy is with our joy, and He only wants to take us there; to the place of joy we cannot fathom.
I testify of miracles, Brothers and Sisters, because without them, none of us would believe.
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Holly Williams by staff
I was raised Southern Baptist. I remember picking up the tracts at the front of the church and reading them before my dad picked me and my sister up from church. One day, I wanted to be saved so I asked my Sunday School teacher what to do. She suggested that I read the Gospel of John. So I read the Gospel of John in my new NIV Bible that my dad had gotten me for either Christmas or Easter or just as a gift. I don’t remember. After I read the Gospel of John, I accepted the Lord Jesus into my heart as my Lord and Savior. Needless to say, I wasn’t really saved but at least I was on the right track.As the years went by, I went to a Nazarene church among others including but not limited to: United Church of Christ, United Methodist Church, Pentecostal Churches, Free Methodist Church, and Baptist Churches. None of these satisfied me.
One day, I prayed to God for something and He answered my prayer in the negative. So I got really angry with God and I became an Atheist for about a week. After this, it took a lot of apologetics reading and stuff to get back to my faith in Christ. I had really damaged my faith by becoming an Atheist for a week.
I have had experience with Wicca (witchcraft) and the Occult in general. It was boyfriends who led me into this stuff. I practiced it for a year or two and then I got out of it and came back to Christianity.
One day while on a website, I saw a Catholic guy. I suddenly became interested in Catholicism. I asked him some questions and was instantly hooked on Catholicism and wanted to convert. So I went to my local priest and asked him to help me convert before Easter which was only about two weeks away. He gave me a book to read and we had discussions about Catholicism. Come Easter, I freaked out and did not become Catholic.
It wasn’t too much later that I entered RCIA. The Summer before RCIA, I decided I wanted my sins washed away at that moment and so I got baptized in a Pentecostal Church at the first available opportunity. Needless to say, they did not have the proper authority to baptize me and so my sins were not washed away even though I thought they were.
As I went through the RCIA process, I became more and more engrossed with Catholicism and I finally became confirmed as a Catholic on Easter 2005. This was after a period of some doubts about Catholicism though.
I was a devout Catholic at first but soon I found that I wasn’t satisfied. I tried to do what I could to stay Catholic but it just didn’t work. I found myself going back to Protestant churches trying to find the truth. I couldn’t find the truth anywhere!
Finally, I decided to look into the LDS Church. I started out by looking at htp://www.mormon.org and also http://www.lds.org. I chatted with the missionaries online and finally I visited a nearby ward in my area. I found the missionaries and asked them if they’d come and visit with me and teach me. I found the Mormon church to be very friendly and inviting.
So the missionaries started coming to my apartment to teach me. I already had a Book of Mormon which I had pretty much never read until then. The Mormons told me how to know whether or not the Book of Mormon was true and so I prayed about it and indeed, I felt that it was true. Before long, I got baptized three weeks later after the missionaries first visit. I was baptized in the wrong ward though and nobody knew it was the wrong ward because the boundaries had recently changed. I received the gift of the Holy Ghost a week after my baptism.
I soon fell away from the Mormon church unfortunately. This was because of my own selfish desires to sin. Finally, I came back and confessed my sins to the bishop. Much to my surprise, I was not punished but was only told not to offer prayers in public until I had dealt with my sins thoroughly. I am now back to being a Mormon again and I’m loving it!
–PaladinMormon02 20:16, 21 October 2007 (MDT)
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Harry Reid by staff
For me, the title of this…would better be Why I’m Glad I Believed.I was born and raised in Searchlight, Nevada, a mining town of about two hundred people. Mining was not the main industry in Searchlight when I grew up; the number-one business was prostitution. At one time in my youth there were thirteen separate bordellos in town.
I went to a two-room school, and most of the time one teacher taught all eight grades.
I thought we had one of the best homes in Searchlight. But on reflection, I realize that it had no hot water, only an outside toilet, and was heated by a wood stove.
During all the time I spent in Searchlight there was never a church or, as I remember, even a church service. So when I went away to high school in Henderson, some forty-five miles away, it was a real adjustment. I hitchhiked or obtained rides in other ways to and from Basic High School. I would stay with people during the week and go home on weekends.
My first boarding site in Henderson was with my father’s brother, Uncle Joe. His wife was Aunt Rae, who many in the family thought was a little strange because she was a Latter-day Saint.
Aunt Rae was very good to me. She was strict but fair. One thing she suggested was my going to something called seminary. A boy named Ron was nice to me and said he also went to seminary. I thought it unusual to go to class before school started, but because of Ron and Aunt Rae I agreed to try this thing called seminary.
The seminary instructor was named Marlan Walker. He was also a high-school Spanish teacher and, as I learned later, an LDS bishop. To say he was a good teacher is a gross understatement. He was mesmerizing. For the first time in my life, I heard the message of Jesus Christ.
In my high-school years, I took two years of Spanish from Marlan Walker as did my wife-to-be, Landra Gould. Marlan went out of his way to be kind to everyone, especially to me and my Jewish girlfriend, Landra. He set an example in kindness that was impressive.
I obtained an athletic scholarship to attend the College of Southern Utah, where I lived in a dormitory with two of my Nevada friends. It was a room for four, so we were assigned a roommate named Larry Adams, who was a Korean War veteran and a returned missionary. He always acted as a returned missionary should.
Because Landra’s parents did not want her to marry a non-Jew, we decided, following my sophomore year in college, to elope. Our former Spanish teacher, still a bishop, heard of our secret marriage plans and said he would save us the twenty-five dollars for a justice of the peace and would himself marry us, in his LDS chapel, no less.
After he married us, we two nineteen-year-olds went to Utah State University to complete our education. My brilliant wife sacrificed her remaining college to work so I could become a lawyer.
Landra rose before dawn each day to take a bus to Thiokol Chemical Company about fifty miles distant, where she worked to pay for my college education. The bus driver, Mr. McPherson, was a stake missionary. Because of his teaching and his patience, we were baptized into The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter- day Saints.
After more than forty years, Landra and I believe our joining the Church to be among the best decisions we ever made. We accepted the Church and a new life because of the power of example. Many contributed to the change, from Aunt Rae to Marlan Walker, from Larry Adams to the stake missionaries. They were effective because they lived their lives as shining representatives, even models, of the life of Jesus.
Our blessings are many. We have five children and soon will have twelve grandchildren. All five of our children have attended BYU, and all have been married in the temple. Each child has been a positive example for us.
After these many years I believe that the Church has been a steady, positive blueprint for my life. Without the direction of the Church, I would have been without a compass.
So you see, I am glad I believed.
This and other moving testimonials from rank-in-file and well-known members of The Church can be found in the remarkable new collection, Why I Believe.
Originally published LDS Living
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Glenn Beck by staff
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Giuseppe Martinengo: how I found the Mormon Church by admin
At the end of 1984, I was almost 20 years old. By that time I had dropped from school, since I had realized that the physics taught at the University would not help me find what I was looking for. Most of my friends and relatives couldn’t understand exactly what was going on with me and some of them tried in different ways to help me but without any concrete result. The problem was that I knew what I didn’t want, but I was not sure about what I wanted.
Nobody around me seemed to have the answers I was looking for. However, I had the feeling that I was in the right path. I had faith that by following the best principles I had learned and trying to improve my life by getting rid of what was not in harmony with my ideals I would finally find the answers.
On a certain day close to the end of the year 1984, I was in my home, reading a book, when I felt the sudden urge to go for a walk in downtown Asti, my home city, in Italy.
While I was walking in Corso Dante (one the main streets of the city) I saw two young men, two missionaries, walking toward me. One of them later told me that he didn’t really want to talk with me, but I looked at them and they looked at me and we stopped and started to converse. I remember that they asked me what I believed about the Savior. I can’t remember what I answered them, but they left me with a pamphlet about the Mormons, and asked for my home address.A few days later, the same missionaries rang at my doorbell. My mother answered, and since they asked for her husband, she said that he wasn’t there. The missionaries then left before I could talk with them. I wasn’t completely ready yet.
A few more days passed and I finally reached the right point. I can remember that I was laying down on my bed, tired of my apparently fruitless search. I offered a simple silent prayer, in which I basically said, “I have done all that I knew I should do… now I really need help since I don’t know what to do next…”
As soon as I expressed my thoughts to God, I started feeling an incredible peace and I felt as if heaven was close to me. In that exact moment, the doorbell rang. This time I was alone at home. I went to answer at the door and the missionaries were there. When they entered the living room, and shook my hand, I knew that they had the answers I was looking for.
Later, I realized that what I was looking for was not just a set of doctrines or a nice church, but the feeling of the Spirit. When they entered my home, I felt that they brought with them that nice Spirit, even if I didn’t know what it was at that time.
I understand now that the Lord gave me several experiences in which I felt His Spirit. Those experiences were so sweet that I was always looking for that feeling, even if I couldn’t name it.
The missionaries’ teachings fit perfectly together with my understanding. They were answering my questions about where we come from, why we are here, and where we will go after this life.
As I have written elsewhere, when the missionaries showed me the filmstrip of the Prophet Joseph Smith’s First Vision, it was difficult for me to contain my tears. I felt that the story of his search for truth was in some ways similar to my own. My search had lasted longer, while his had been probably more intense. Moreover, he had been chosen to have the glorious vision of the Father and the Son while I had to content myself with two missionaries. However, those two missionaries were like angels to me, bringing with them the answers to my deeply heartfelt questions.
However, in spite of all these feelings, I still didn’t have a solid testimony. It was the reading of the Book of Mormon that brought to me the confirmation of the truthfulness of all those teachings and experiences.
Early in our discussions, the missionaries mentioned the practice of fasting. They didn’t stress that point too much, but for some reason I began to read the Book of Mormon while fasting at the same time. My later experience in teaching families and individuals with other missionaries showed me that it is not easy to find someone who accepts the challenge to fast while reading the Book of Mormon. However, those experiences also convinced me that when people do it, and they are sincere in their search, it is almost impossible for them not to receive an answer. And, in fact, that happened with me.
In less than a week, I read the entire Book of Mormon. I would fast for 24 hours, then have a lunch, and then fast for another 24 hours. My mother really thought that I was behaving strangely. At some point in that process, I decided to kneel down and ask if those things I was learning were true. I did it, and, after my prayer, an incredible feeling of peace surrounded me, a feeling similar to the one I had just before the missionaries came to my home, but much stronger. Together with those feelings came the answers to my specific questions about the truthfulness of the Book of Mormon, of the Prophet Joseph Smith, and of the Church. I received a confirmation by the Spirit of God that all that the missionaries were teaching was true. From that moment, to paraphrase the words of the Prophet Joseph Smith, “I had a testimony; I knew it, and I knew that God knew it, and I could not deny it, neither wanted I do it”.
I knew that the Church and the Book of Mormon were true and I was eager to learn all that was possible about the Church. However, my mother was not at all happy with my new “discovery” and, although the missionaries tried to teach her the day they challenged us to be baptized, it became clear that she was not interested like I was. Her opposition created some problems that led me eventually to leave my home.
However, I had finally found what I had been looking for after many years and this was what really counted. More than 20 years have passed since that day and I have had many experiences that reinforced that initial testimony.
So, why do I believe in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints? Simply because I know that it is true. The Spirit of the Lord testified it to me over and over again after that first experience. I don’t believe what I do because the Church is a wonderful organization, I don’t believe because I have friends, I don’t believe because the doctrine is clear, understandable, and sound, I don’t believe because someone told me so, but I believe because, in fact, I know that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is true.
After all we can say and do, each person will have to honestly search, ask, and receive an answer directly from God about the truthfulness of the Book of Mormon, of the Prophet Joseph Smith, and of the Church. I searched, asked, and received my answer, and therefore I can honestly say that I know that these things are true.
This story was first published in my blog at Giuseppe Martinengo’s blog
Giuseppe Martinengo: before I met the missionaries of the Mormon Church
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Giuseppe Martinengo: before I met the missionaries of the Mormon Church by admin
I was not born and raised in Utah, among the Mormons, but I was raised a Catholic in Italy. When I was 10 years old, my father died because of lung cancer (he used to smoke) at age 47. His death changed everything in my life. I was then the only child of a widowed young mother (33 years old). In spite of all the efforts made by my mother to help me cope with the situation, very soon I realized that something had changed not only in my outward normal life, but also inside me. I wasn’t anymore like many other children who could go about being just children without many problems and especially without many questions about life or sudden sadness.Because of the death of my father, I noticed that some people started to treat me differently and, over time, I had to face some hard questions about the purpose of our existence here on the earth. I didn’t realize how important what was happening inside me was until I was 13 or 14. However by the age of 14, I was beginning to be highly unsatisfied with the world around me and with the answers that my teachers, family, or religious ministers gave me to the important questions of life. I was beginning to realize that perhaps something was missing in the worldview and beliefs of most people around me, but I was not sure what.
It is important to stress that the presence of the Catholic Church were so strong in my environment that I can still remember a time, when I was about 9 or 10 years old, in which during a lesson at school about people with other beliefs, I asked myself: “How can people not to be Catholic? Do they know that they will all go to live forever in… (a very bad place)? Why they don’t change religion and become all Catholics?” Such was the power of tradition in my environment.
The death of my father, however, started to change my situation. The Lord sometimes works in mysterious ways to bring about His purposes. In fact, after the death of my father, my mother reduced her involvement with the Catholic Church. She was still a Catholic, but, perhaps because she didn’t find the help she was looking for in that organization to cope with her loss, she started looking elsewhere.
She started reading books about oriental religions and philosophies such as yoga, Zen, and Buddhism; in particular, she started reading about and practicing yoga. Her exploration opened up a new world to me. Suddenly, I was learning about other religions and philosophies and I was discovering that there were a lot of good things to be learned. I began to realize that perhaps the Catholic Church didn’t have the best answers to the questions of life. Moreover, and especially, I began to be familiarized with the concepts of spiritual progression and the idea of spiritual self-improvement. Not that these concepts are completely absent from the Catholic tradition, but in the daily life of a Catholic they are almost absent, since they are usually stressed only for those who abandon the “normal” life and became “full-time, forever single, priests or nuns.” My favorite Catholic “hero” was Saint Francis of Assis, but I didn’t like the idea that a religious man or woman should give up marriage to pursue a religious life at its best.
I had a dear friend, Stefano, who was a member of a small Protestant group. I had always been fascinated by the fact that this and other Protestant groups rejected the principle of celibacy in their church. When people like me are immersed in a strong Catholic culture, even these little examples or ideas can make a big difference over time and give us the courage to pursue something different in spite of the strong pressure of the tradition.
When I was 15, I had another key experience. The setting was a trip to Rome. The purpose of the trip was to take the Catholic youth from all Europe to meet with the Pope. At that time I was involved with the Catholic youth of my parish, even if I was beginning to question some of our beliefs. During that trip, something special happened.
On the specific day, thousands of youth were ready to meet the Pope in the Saint Peter’s Basilica. We had been preparing for months for this special meeting. Youth from all over Europe had traveled to get there. Obviously, the Pope was not present when we arrived and so we all sat on the floor of the church and started singing. I really didn’t sing, but I listened for at least an hour to those Gregorian lyrics but I started feeling bad. I had great expectations about that special meeting with the Pope, but after a while I began to think: “What am I doing here?”; “Why I am here after all? Just because others told me that it would be special?” I struggled for a while, but then I decided to stand up and leave. I had a feeling of relief when I left that strange atmosphere in the Saint Peter’s Basilica. I had an uncle in Rome and I decided to visit him and spend some time with his family instead than meeting the Pope: not a big deal anyway, I thought.
On the way back to my city in northern Italy, while still on the train, I had the opportunity to tell what I had done to our main guide, a very outgoing and friendly priest. I told him about my feelings, my doubts, and the fact that I had left the meeting. I began to ask questions about Catholic beliefs. After listening and discussin with me for some time he finally said: “If you believe these things, then you are not a Catholic”. That was really a strong and challenging statement, a call back to orthodoxy. I was a little perplexed, but I replied: “Then, I am probably not a Catholic!”
I suppose that the Spirit of the Lord was present that day to support me and open my mind, because I felt relieved when I said what I was really thinking, and I was not afraid of the priest’s reaction. After that episode, my search for answers was directed mainly outside the Catholic Church, since even that apparently open-minded priest had failed to help me to understand. When confronted with hard questions, he couldn’t find anything better than suggesting that I rely on blind faith or consider myself a heretic!
Several years passed after that episode and I continued to meet with my Catholic friends, but I was now always more involved in reading books about other religions. Books were my main font of information about religion. One author that really had a strong influence on me for a period, for example, was Sri Aurobindo. I can’t remember the details of what I read at that time, but Sri Aurobindo, in his books, suggests that humankind can evolve spiritually beyond its current limitations and reach a future state of “supramental” existence. This would be like an “evolutionary” step for humankind that should lead to a divine life on Earth. (This make me thing of the Millennium now, even if according the Bible this “almost divine life” will not the product of “evolution”; but at that time it was an interesting concept that gave me some hope and meaning for the future).
Based on my current knowledge and testimony of the teaching of the Mormon Church, I can’t avoid thinking that by reading his writings I was moving a step forward in the direction of understanding key Mormon concepts, some of which are not clear or even accepted by many traditional Christians. I believe that the Spirit of the Lord teaches people according to their language and understanding, and moves forward the true seekers one step at a time until they are ready for the fullness of the Gospel.
My search for the truth continued to intensify until it reached its climax when I was 19 years old. One day, I was in Torino, where I was supposed to be moving forward with my studies in physics. I had chosen to study physics not because I wanted to become a new Einstein, but because of books such as The Tao of Physics by Fritjof Capra, books that discuss the parallels between modern physics and eastern mysticism. It is probably unnecessary to say that since my interest for physics was nothing more than another step in my search for the truth, I was very disappointed with my undergraduate program at the University of Torino. Therefore, as in many other occasions, on that particular day I was not studying physics but I was reading a book about the history of Indian philosophy.
At a certain point, that day, I decided to go for a walk to relax and think about life. While I was walking downtown someone stopped me and asked me if I wanted to do a psychological test. I didn’t mention it before, but I had also been interested in psychoanalysis and psychology, and I especially liked books such as Eric Fromm’s The Art of Loving or To Have or to Be? and so on Therefore, I was somewhat curious about this test.
That test was the beginning of my last step in my search for the truth. After that, I had lost my fear of disconnecting from the Catholic tradition, and I was almost incomprehensible to my family and Catholic friends. I can say now that I was ready to meet the Mormon missionaries, and especially to understand and accept their message, less than a year later, because of all those experiences.
But who was behind that psychological test? The people of Dianetics and Scientology. Their focus on personal improvement and their blending of scientific, religious, and psychological knowledge attracted me for a short period, even if I never became really involved with them, because after the initial interested, I realized that they didn’t have the answers I was looking for. However, even this relatively negative experience had at least one important positive outcome. Scientology completely severed my last psychological (and some doctrinal) connections with the Catholic Church. I freed myself even more from the weight of tradition and I grew stronger in the belief that there was something out there, in some place, in some organization, or in some book, that could help me answer my questions about the purpose of life.
It may seem of little importance to some, but to have the courage to be unorthodox, to challenge at least in our own mind the tradition is an important step before we can be ready to receive a testimony and to accept the restored gospel. This was especially true for me, since I didn’t accept to be baptized in the Mormon Church for social reasons or out of a temporary interest, but only because I was touched by the Spirit, after contemplating the simple but powerful architecture and logic of Mormon doctrine. The concept of obtaining a testimony of the truth by the Spirit of God implies that to rely on tradition to believe is not enough, even when the tradition is true.
I can testify with all my conviction that the scripture that read “seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you” (Luke 11:9) is true, because the Lord guided me by the hand through many different experiences until I found what I was really looking for, the true Church of Jesus Christ once again established on the earth.
The Dark Ages of my life were dispelled when I finally met the missionaries and I can only be thankful that I was born in a time when the true Church is present in the face of the earth. I can’t imagine the hardship imposed on those people who tried to find the Church when it wasn’t on the earth.
I need to recognize that I owe to the Catholic Church my first limited understanding of and belief in Jesus Christ, belief that never left me even when I was focusing on other religions. However, I owe to these other religions and philosophies a better understanding of many true principles and a more opened mind that helped me not to be afraid when I finally found the true Church of Jesus Christ.
Other Giuseppe’s pages
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Francesco Lepore: Finding the Mormon missionaries in Italy by staff
